Dinos treatment!!!!

[Danh Ngo]

I am having dino growing in tank, I raise nitrate from 0.25 to 2 and phosphate currently 0.04. They have been at that level for 2 weeks. I see less dinos but not totally gone. What should I do? Any recoomendation

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

For me... I really think adding lots of different pod species may have helped. I could siphon it out every day and it would just grow back. Then a week or so after dosing different pod types... I didn't have to siphon and it started going away. Oddly it was still all over one of my frag racks but anything on the sand and rocks got wiped out. My conclusion is that one of the pod species ate the stuff up. Which makes sense to some degree that something would eat these buggers... or our oceans would be crammed with it.

 

[ArialReef]

Pick off as much as you can and add a bunch of Astraea and Nassarius snails, 3 day blackout, and reduced feeding. Works for me.

 

[Danh Ngo]

I will try blackout for three daya then. I have some new frags come today, would blackout hurts them?

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

Snails don't touch do anything to dinos. Never found one that would eat them.

Blackout sounds like a bad idea with new frags that are already stressed out.

 

[Adele]

Sorry to hear this. I am working with my first Dino outbreak myself. Its really important to try and find out what kind of Dino you have before trying methods to eradicate them. Some do not respond to a black out. If you do not have a microscope for ID go to the Nuisance Algae Forum and find this sticky thread. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ou-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/unread
There are tests you can conduct to confirm Dinos and then you can go from there. There is a ton of info, but just the opening post by @mcarroll will help a lot.

 

[Danh Ngo]

Just know that, I thought there was only one type of dino

 

[Adele]

Just know that, I thought there was only one type of dino

Nope. All annoying, but different types. Also, some are more toxic, to you and your tank inhabitants than others ( I had no clue) Start running carbon if you are not already doing so as a preventive measure. good luck and check out that thread

 

[lilchris_357]

Blackout will only receed the Dinos but as soon as you turn your lights on the dinos will return. I agree with adding pods, increase No3 and Po4 levels. The biggest thing that worked for me was dosing MicroBacter7 daily until they were gone. I'm not promoting Microbacter 7 but that is the product that I used. The thing about Dinos is they show up in tanks that are not balanced. So if you where carbon dosing, stripping nutrients out of the tank to zero, and possibly added something (coral, fish or LR) that caused an imbalance, that is where Dinos come from. You have to get your system back in balance to defeat the Dinos thus upping nutrients to grow different algae to outcompete the dinos, adding pods, and bacteria. Never ever do water changes while you have dinos, you will only add nutrients that the Dinos need to thrive. I think one need to attack them in more than one way (ie. Pods, Bacteria, manual removal) That means stay on your tank maintenance such as clean filter socks, skim and clean skimmer, get the dinos into the water column, I have also read that a UV sterilizer will kill them as well. I don't know personally but there is alot of positive reviews on it. Adding Pods, and becteria. Those are the things I did and i defeated them. I now add Pods, and dose bacteria every quarter to keep my tank in balance. Another product that works well is Dr. Tim's Waste away and Refresh. Again, its going to take time and patience for it to work. Good luck on your battle with the dreaded Dinos, its not going to be an easy one but it can done.

 

[Danh Ngo]

Blackout will only receed the Dinos but as soon as you turn your lights on the dinos will return. I agree with adding pods, increase No3 and Po4 levels. The biggest thing that worked for me was dosing MicroBacter7 daily until they were gone. I'm not promoting Microbacter 7 but that is the product that I used. The thing about Dinos is they show up in tanks that are not balanced. So if you where carbon dosing, stripping nutrients out of the tank to zero, and possibly added something (coral, fish or LR) that caused an imbalance, that is where Dinos come from. You have to get your system back in balance to defeat the Dinos thus upping nutrients to grow different algae to outcompete the dinos, adding pods, and bacteria. Never ever do water changes while you have dinos, you will only add nutrients that the Dinos need to thrive. I think one need to attack them in more than one way (ie. Pods, Bacteria, manual removal) That means stay on your tank maintenance such as clean filter socks, skim and clean skimmer, get the dinos into the water column, I have also read that a UV sterilizer will kill them as well. I don't know personally but there is alot of positive reviews on it. Adding Pods, and becteria. Those are the things I did and i defeated them. I now add Pods, and dose bacteria every quarter to keep my tank in balance. Another product that works well is Dr. Tim's Waste away and Refresh. Again, its going to take time and patience for it to work. Good luck on your battle with the dreaded Dinos, its not going to be an easy one but it can done.

I read one post from @Randy Holmes-Farley , he mentioned raising Ph will help, thinking about dosing Kalk, I dont know if that work. I think dinos in my tank appear when I overdose carbon, and having phosphate quite high

 

[Danh Ngo]

They are only grow on the back glass, and few spots on sand bed, so trying to get it solved

 

[Danh Ngo]

Any suggestion or experience with chemical treatment?, my tank is heavily stock so trying to make sure before adding anything

 

[lilchris_357]

I read one post from @Randy Holmes-Farley , he mentioned raising Ph will help, thinking about dosing Kalk, I dont know if that work. I think dinos in my tank appear when I overdose carbon, and having phosphate quite high

Unfortuately I can't speak on that. If one wants to pursue that route, I would go the route of getting fresh outside air into your system to raise PH levels. I know dosing kalk "correctly" can be a bit touchy. Just my opinion. How are you supplementing Alk and Ca?

 

[lilchris_357]

Only Chemicals I would recommend is Bacteria based chemicals, MicroBacter7, Dr. Tims refresh, Waste away (together as a treatment) or Dr. Tim's One and Only, Korlin Zucht Biomate or ZeoBac, the Fritz brand of Bacteria. I heard mixed reviews on Dino X, and Vibrant but have not used those products.

 

[JMetaxas]

My 5 month old mixed Reef tank started to grow Dinos. I don't know the exact kind, but I was worried and knew I needed to act.

It was not a big outbreak, but the long stringy Dinos started to grow on SPS corals, and in other places. It was a getting worse every day and I swear you could almost watch them grow. Every string had that telltale bubble at the tip.

What I did:

1. Once or twice a day I would take a turkey baster and blow off the Dinos. Off the corals, rocks, glass, etc..... I wanted it in the water column for step 2.
2. I started running a filter sock (wasn't before) and changed it very day. I noticed that they would clog pretty fast. I think this grabbed any water borne Dinos.
3. I increased by Nitrates from zero (undetectable) to around 1-2ppm by dosing KNO3. (by adding approx. 1ppm per day)
4. Cut my photo period from 11 hours ( I run a 6 bulk T5 ATI) to 8 hours.


After about a week, they started to recede and now I don't really see any of them.


I have my fingers crossed I licked them.

 

[JMetaxas]

Double Post.

 

[O'l Salty]

I started running a UV filter and they completely disappeared in two days.

 

[Danh Ngo]

Unfortuately I can't speak on that. If one wants to pursue that route, I would go the route of getting fresh outside air into your system to raise PH levels. I know dosing kalk "correctly" can be a bit touchy. Just my opinion. How are you supplementing Alk and Ca?

2 part with auto doser

 

[Danh Ngo]

My 5 month old mixed Reef tank started to grow Dinos. I don't know the exact kind, but I was worried and knew I needed to act.

It was not a big outbreak, but the long stringy Dinos started to grow on SPS corals, and in other places. It was a getting worse every day and I swear you could almost watch them grow. Every string had that telltale bubble at the tip.

What I did:

1. Once or twice a day I would take a turkey baster and blow off the Dinos. Off the corals, rocks, glass, etc..... I wanted it in the water column for step 2.
2. I started running a filter sock (wasn't before) and changed it very day. I noticed that they would clog pretty fast. I think this grabbed any water borne Dinos.
3. I increased by Nitrates from zero (undetectable) to around 1-2ppm by dosing KNO3. (by adding approx. 1ppm per day)
4. Cut my photo period from 11 hours ( I run a 6 bulk T5 ATI) to 8 hours.


After about a week, they started to recede and now I don't really see any of them.


I have my fingers crossed I licked them.

Thanks, I was planning to do the samething with what you did. I just remove the filter sock because it was clogged up by dinos, did not know that would help, I did slowly raise my No3 from 0.25 to 2 in about 2-3 weeks, did not want to stress coral. I saw some decent decrease of dino, no more bubble on back glass. I will remove most of them by hand and decrease photo period a bit to see.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am having dino growing in tank, I raise nitrate from 0.25 to 2 and phosphate currently 0.04. They have been at that level for 2 weeks. I see less dinos but not totally gone. What should I do? Any recoomendation

There are lots of different ways to treat for dinos.

There's no simple foolproof method for all types of dinos.

I'd read through the big threads in the main forum that discuss them.